The Force in the statement said it "wishes to stringently refute the malicious and outrageous lies."

According to the statement, Mr. Corbin said "...not all the persons involved in the murder of Yohance Douglas...were regular policemen..." and that "...these Squads are paid a bounty of $300,000 for every killing of persons..."

"These statements are blatantly irresponsible as there is no evidence to support them.

"The Guyana Police Force can account for all its members. The ranks involved in last Saturday's (March 1) incident are regular members of the Force.

"If Mr. Corbin knows that they are not members of the Force he should provide the evidence", the Force stated.

"We do not and we have never before engaged in the employment of bounty hunters, neither is anyone being paid to kill any person(s). This is a clear case of a person making groundless statements without considering the implications of such malicious utterings.

"The statement is indeed ridiculous and unfortunate coming from a person who should know better. They certainly do not, in any way, contribute to the peace and tranquility of society", the Force said.

It added that Corbin further took pains to stress on the alleged intimidating behaviour of members of the Force in relation to passing around the homes of Yohance Douglas and Ronson Grey and "making as he claims menacing gestures".

"We deny this allegation. There was no need for ranks to target these homes.

"In fact no one from those homes has reported that he or she was subjected to any intimidatory conduct by members of the Force.

"We have a legal right to traverse any area of this country and our patrols go to any area including South Ruimveldt. If the Police vehicle with ranks was seen in that area, they were on routine patrol duty", the Force said.

"We have made a number of statements on Saturday's incident and we do not wish to engage in further rhetoric on it.

"The Force does not wish to engage in a response that is belabouring and we insist that Mr. Corbin's utterings are nothing short of attempting to cause disaffection amongst members of the Force and the public.

"We reiterate that the making of statements without supporting evidence is tantamount to recklessness and irresponsibility. The public can very well do without these pernicious statements.